


Lullaby

by cecilantro



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14492706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: 75% fluff + emotional comfort.Molly wakes up in Caleb's bed.





	Lullaby

__

Molly turns over in bed and sighs at the relief of the new position, on his stomach, he flops an arm over and it meets soft and warm. He’s sleep-addled and used to sleeping with Fjord and Yasha, it doesn’t register as unusual in his head.   
It does in Caleb’s though.   
He starts awake at the sudden weight and warmth, bleary-eyed and pulse racing. He looks at Molly, head turned toward him and cheek smooshed up against the pillow and lies back, smiles, regulates his breathing and wrangles his heart rate. He lays an arm up against Molly’s and forces himself back to sleep under the moonlight.

When they wake up, Caleb is no longer holding Molly’s arm. He’s  _ lying _ on him, head on Molly’s shoulder and wrapped over him, an arm and a leg thrown over Molly’s torso and legs. Molly is awake, he’s drawing gentle patterns on Caleb’s back, cuddling him close. Caleb can’t see that he’s got his eyes closed, but he makes the assumption and is correct, anyway. Caleb shuffles backwards, away, shocked at what he’s done and nearly falls straight out of bed, saved only by Molly lurching after him and grabbing, pulling him back up as he spits apologies. Molly chuckles warmly at him and they sit up together, Caleb watches Molly yawn and stretch and brush the loose strand of hair out of his eyes. He watches Caleb intently as he pulls the rest of his hair back and tugs the ribbon on his wrist loose, ties his hair up.   
“Caleb? You alright?”   
Caleb shakes himself out,   
“ _ Ja _ , I’m good. I- I don’t remember- last night?”   
“Oh, neither do I.” Molly beams, waves airily, “Bit of a wild night. Think we just collapsed in the first bed we found.”   
Caleb averts his eyes and stands from the bed.   
It’s almost midday, Nott is not in her bed and it’s rumpled, it looks as though she’s already woken up and moved out. There’s no note on the bed, chances are that she’ll be hovering downstairs, or next door with Jester, making mischief.   
“Caleb?” Molly moves to the edge of the bed and tilts his head, a concerned frown gracing his face, “Are you okay? Was  _ this _ ,” he waves a hand at the bed, “Okay? Didn’t make it weird, did I?”   
Caleb turns and looks between the Molly-shaped indent in his pillow, and the Molly-shaped Molly watching him with worry and affection in the crease of his brow.   
“You did not make it weird, no.” Caleb affirms, and Molly sighs at the deliberate phrasing, now used to Caleb’s trickery tongue, silver as his own.   
“Sit down, Caleb.”   
He obeys, puts about a foot of space between them as he settles onto the bed, and Molly holds an arm out to him.   
“‘S your choice.” He says, and jerks his head at his own arm.   
Caleb stares, for a long moment, and eventually gives in. He shifts closer, until Molly can wrap an arm around his shoulders and pulls until Caleb collapses into his chest. Molly bundles Caleb into a big hug, loose, but warm, he tucks his face against Caleb’s shoulder and focuses on Caleb’s stutter of breath under his arms.   
“Are you worried that  _ you _ fucked up?”   
“I always fuck up.” Caleb replies, muffled by Molly’s shoulder where he’s nestled his head.   
Molly squeezes.   
“Oh, darling, I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong that is.”   
That’s about where Caleb breaks, sobbing just a little as he slumps, completely at Molly’s mercy.   
“That’s it, Caleb, that’s it.” Molly tugs at Caleb until they’re laid out on the bed, Caleb stays up against Molly’s shoulder and he shushes, gently, as Caleb cries.   
“I’m sorry.” Caleb manages, choked, and Molly strokes patterns into his back and hushes him, kisses, gently at Caleb’s collarbone and feels his breathing hitch, hard, under the touch.   
“If I cross any boundaries.” He mumbles, against Caleb’s neck as he presses there, too, “You will let me know?”   
Caleb nods against his shoulder and Molly feels an arm wind over his back and squish there.    
He presses his next kiss to the soft of Caleb’s throat and pauses to feel the flicker of Caleb’s racing pulse, there, it worries him but he can’t be much other than grateful that his heart’s still beating.    
He moves up, the next kiss is just under the corner of Caleb’s jaw, and by the time that Molly draws back from that one, Caleb has stopped sobbing.   
Then up to Caleb’s cheekbone, by the corner of his eye, lighter than the preceding kisses and slipping gently to the middle of his cheek. His shakes have almost subsided, the only tension is now mostly in his shoulders where he clings to Molly.   
Molly pushes a little, so he can press the next kiss to the tip of Caleb’s nose, one hand comes up to brush the last of the tears from Caleb’s eyes. Caleb’s hand are balled in the back of his shirt, holding as though Molly is the last thing between Caleb and drowning in whatever ocean he’s found himself thrown into.   
Molly’s fingers rest, cupping Caleb’s jaw and he pauses, here, and when Caleb doesn’t pull away, he moves closer, there’s a hair’s breadth between them and Molly whispers,   
“Your choice.” and hands Caleb the control.   
The seconds stretch on, and for a brief moment, Molly thinks he may have badly misread the situation.   
Then Caleb presses that last little gap away to meet Molly’s lips and he sighs in relief.   
Caleb goes lax against him, the kind of relaxed that melts away the stresses and worries of moments before as he loses himself in Molly. In the sensation of no longer being solid, Molly his only anchor to the physical realm and he leaves all of his anxiety and history behind.   
When they pull apart for breath, Caleb is jolted back into his body with alarming speed and jumps under Molly’s hands.   
“Whoa-” Molly pats at him, gently, “You alright?”   
“ _ Ja _ .” Caleb gasps at the suddenly very real air around him, “ _ Ja. _ ”   
“You  _ sure _ ?” Molly checks, prodding, “You lied, last time.”   
“It was not a lie!” Caleb protests, “I am so rarely okay, that I forget which kind of not okay is the kind I should tell you about.”   
“All of it!” Molly rolls his eyes and pushes in for a quick, firm kiss, “I’m here for a  _ reason _ , Caleb, my own, and to help you. Talk to me when you need me.”   
“You know that I will not do that.” Caleb tilts his head forward, so he can rest his forehead to Molly’s, and receives a hum in return.   
“As long as you know that you can. And you believe that I love you, and that I care about you. You believe that, right?”   
Caleb’s breath stutters in his throat.   
“I love you too.” He says, softly, and Molly frowns,   
“Caleb.” He warns, “Don’t dodge the question.”   
“I believe that you care for me.” Caleb pulls his gaze up to meet Molly’s eyes, “I do not know that you love me.”   
“How do I show you that I love you?” Molly asks, and his fingers are back at Caleb’s jaw, running gently along. “What will allow you to believe me?”   
“I don’t know.” Caleb’s reply is threatening the husk of tears, and Molly kisses him, tries to chase those tears away.   
“I’ll find out.” He promises, “I’m going nowhere. We  _ will _ figure out the way to show you that I love you.”   
“Do you believe?” Caleb asks, quiet, and Molly smiles, almost wryly,   
“I think I do, yes. My trust is more easily given than yours, I don’t have the history behind me to teach me better lessons.”   
Caleb presses in for another kiss.   
“I love you the way that you are. Mess and bullshit and all.” He speaks against Molly’s lips, and receives a breath of laughter in return.   
They lie together in silence for a while, almost an hour by Caleb’s count, until the sound of the door opening reaches them and they both turn their heads to see who it is.   
It turns out to be  _ everyone _ , Nott comes in first, Jester, Fjord, Yasha, and Beau trail after and set up around the room, chattering so idly that it takes Jester a full sixty seconds to look over and slap and Beau’s arm.   
“Look! Look, finally!”   
This draws Fjord and Yasha’s attention, too, Yasha gives her delighted laugh as Caleb burrows a little closer to Molly’s shoulder, and the latter glares over him at the others.   
“Really?” He asks, scornful, “You figured  _ that _ was the best course of action with  _ Caleb _ ?”   
Beau shrugs and grins,   
“Hey, it’s about time you two got it on. I’ve had to listen to ya both complainin’ about your  _ emotions _ for, uh… a month?” She looks at Jester, who nods, “A month.” Beau affirms mostly to herself, and throws an arm around Jester’s shoulders, lets the tiefling snuggle closer.    
“My scimitars are by the bed.” Molly points as he warns, “I learned to throw knives in the carnival, scimitars aren’t much different.”   
“Like t’ see you try.” Beau rolls her eyes and disengages from the conversation as she presses a kiss to Jester’s hair.   
“We brought you some lunch.” Yasha gestures to Fjord, and they see, for the first time, that he’s holding a satchel. Caleb scrambles to sit up, leaning toward food. Yasha smiles, “We thought you may be hungry.”   
“Starving.” Molly grins as he, too, sits up and sets a hand to Caleb’s knee, “Thank you.”   
“Any time.” Fjord dumps the bag at Molly’s feet and they begin to chow down on the various breads and pastries. The group falls into idle conversation.   
Everything is calm.


End file.
